The Value of Experience

Odd as it seems, most school board candidates have little or no direct knowledge of the District prior to their election. Most of them never went to Board meetings before filing for their candidacy. Most do not follow the board of the district closely. They are unfamiliar with the schools, the programs, the departments in the central administration, the current issues, and the history of how we arrived at our current status. Consequently, they spend their first couple of years just learning who people are and how things work. During this period, when they don't know much of anything about the district, they are not only ineffective, they actually cause damage.

They are ineffective because they don't know what was promised in previous years, so they don't know to hold the superintendent and staff accountable for fulfilling those promises. Of course, even the continuing Board members have shown that they have no interest in holding the superintendent and staff accountable for fulfilling commitments. They don't know about previous audits so they don't know when audit findings are repeated.

They are ineffective because they question things that should not be questioned. They ask questions about routine activities.

They are ineffective because they don't question things that should be questioned. They don't ask when the staff contradicts a previous statement. The staff has re-defined the term "curriculum" no less than four times in the last five years. The staff pretends that new changes are long-standing practices - Spectrum, until recently, was defined by its self-contained delivery model. Staff claims that they can do things that they previously claimed they couldn't do - and vice versa. They don't know what annual reports are supposed to be provided so they don't know when they are missed. More to the point, they don't know what's supposed to be in those annual reports, so they don't notice when those elements are missing.

They also have to be educated about programs. They don't know what ALOs are, they don't know about the various Special Education programs or delivery models. They don't know the additional costs associated with language immersion, STEM, or Montessori. You'd be surprised how many of them don't even know what Spectrum is. While it could be argued that no one knows what Spectrum is (Director Martin-Morris, at the work session on Growth Boundaries this spring, asked the question "What is Spectrum?". He didn't get an answer.), the Board should know something about it. They don't know about our alternative schools. Many Board members don't know the difference between AP and APP.

They have to be educated about the District's processes. They have to learn about the process for adopting instructional materials. They have to learn the budget process. They have to learn the process for capital improvements. They have to learn the process for the Transportation plan, the annual approval of schools, and the annual revision to the assignment plan.

So, no matter how much a new Board member knows about anything else, the ones who haven't been following the District closely for years - and that's nearly all of them - have a huge and steep learning curve to get over. It generally takes them from 18 to 24 months to do it. About half of their term in office they are dreadfully ill-prepared to do the job. It would be a real plus to have a new Board Director who actually knows something about the District and how it works.